Narrow elastic waistband

ABSTRACT

A narrow elastic waistband for use in the waist encircling portion of articles of apparel. The fabric is tubular woven and has monofilament filling yarns in the transverse direction of the fabric. In one layer of the tubular fabric elastic yarns are woven under tension in a leno weave along with longitudinally extending non-elastic yarns. The leno woven elastic yarns are on one surface of the monofilament filling yarns and the leno woven non-elastic yarns are on the opposite surface of the filling yarns to provide this layer with a transverse concave configuration. The other layer of the tubular fabric comprises longitudinally extending texturized yarns tied in at spaced intervals to the monofilament filling yarns.

[ 1 Oct. 22, 1974 1 1 NARROW ELASTIC WAISTBAND [75] Inventors: Roger G. Campbell; Richard E.

Goff, Jr., both of Barrington; Normand D. Guay, Woonsocket, all of R.1.

[73] Assignee: Johnson & Johnson, New

Brunswick, NJ.

221 Filed: Jan. 8, 1973 21 Appl. No.: 321,903

52] US. Cl. ..2/237 51 Int. Cl. ..A41f9/02 [58] Field of Search 2/237, 236, 221, 220, 76; 139/421, 419, 422, 423, 420, 410; 57/140 B,

Austria 139/421 5/1966 Australia 139/421 18,931 0/1901 Great Britain 139/421 1,376,544 9/1964 France 139/422 Primary Examiner-H. Hampton Hunter 571 7 ABSTRACT A narrow elastic waistband for use in the waist encircling portion of articles of apparel. The fabric is tubular woven and has monofilament filling yarns in the transverse direction of the fabric. 1n one layer of the tubular fabric elastic yarns are woven under tension in a leno weave along with longitudinally extending nonelastic yarns. The leno woven elastic yarns are on one surface of the monofilament filling yarns and the leno woven non-elastic yarns are on the opposite surface of the filling yarns to provide this layer with a transverse concave configuration. The other layer of the tubular fabric comprises longitudinally extending texturized yarns tied in at spaced intervals to the monofilament filling yarns.

7 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures NARROW ELASTIC WAISTBAND This invention relates to the narrow elastic waistbands for use in articles of wearing apparel.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The narrow elastic waistband of the present invention is used in the waist encircling portion of various types of articles of apparel; such as, skirts, trousers, and the like. The type of garment will determine the amount of stretch and the modulus of elasticity required in the waistband.

The present invention will be described in its preferred use as a waistband in trousers; however, as is well known in the art, the amount of elasticity and the modulus of elasticity may be varied. Also the weave pattern may be varied if decorative effects are desired in the final fabric.

Waistbands and especially trouser Waistbands often suffer from what is termed unsightly rollover;" that is, the band of the trouser will turn over on itself during wear or afterwards. There have been a number of techniques for reducing or eliminating this rollover problem. One such technique is to place a curvilinear or concave cross section in the waistband. This may be done by using a thermoplastic yarn in thefilling direction of the band and setting this thermoplastic yarn in a concave configuration. Fabrics and Waistbands of this type are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,129,434 and 3,l55,986.

With the advent of the use of stretch materials such as double knit fabrics in trousers some stretch fabrics have been developed for use in Waistbands of these garments to provide the desired stiffness and stretch. One such material comprises monofilament yarns, running in the direction of the width of the fabric, woven with textured, synthetic stretch yarns in the direction of the length of the fabric. The woven fabric is coated with a latex composition. The monofilaments provide stiffness in the widthwise direction and the textured yarns and latex provide stretch in the lengthwise direction.

The prior art Waistbands generally suffer from one or more of the following deficiencies; poor washability, poor dry cleanability, lack of shrinkage control, lack of stiffness, lack of body, failure to prevent rollover of the trousers, insufficient elongation for use in stretch trousers, complicated manufacturing techniques in the material itself or of the waistband; that is, it must be teristics in the final garment waistband.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION We have discovered an improved narrow elastic waistband which is suitable for use in the band encircling portion of articles of clothing to prevent unsightly rollover." Our new waistband, unlike the prior art Waistbands, is used entirely by itself and has a smooth, nice-appearing surface that may be left exposed in the final garment. Our new waistband improves the economics and reduces the labor required to manufacture an article of apparel.

Our new waistband is a tubular woven fabric and com-prises a plurality of monofilament filling yarns in the transverse direction of the fabric. The inner layer of the tubular fabric has elastic yarns in the longitudinal direction of the fabric. The elastic yarns are woven under tension and at least some of these elastic yarns are leno woven with non-elastic yarns in the longitudinal direction of the fabric. The leno woven elastic yarns are maintained on one surface of the monofilament filling yarns while the leno'woven non-elastic yarns are maintained on the opposite surface. The resultant layer has a transverse concave configuration with the elastic yarns on the inner surface of the concave configuration and the non-elastic yarns on the back or outer surface of the concave configuration. The outer layer of the tubular fabric comprises texturized yarns such as texturized nylon yarns woven under tension, and tied to the monofilament filling yarns at spaced apart intervals. This layer of texturized yarns is woven so as to be on the inner surface of the concave configuration of the other layer and becomes the exposed surface of the final waistband when sewn in a pair of trousers.

A preferred embodiment of the new elastic waistband of the present invention comprises monofilament filling yarns, having a denier of about 400 to 2,000 in the transverse direction of the fabric. The monofilament filling yarns are woven with two sets of warp yarns. The first set of warp yarns which is to form the inner layer, has a center portion and two edge portions. A plurality of elastic yarns havinga spandex core and wrapped with a yarn that is set in the wrapped configuration are disposed in said center portion.'Some of these elastic yarnsv are leno woven with non-elastic warp yarns. The center portion also preferably contains some nonelastic yams woven in a plain weave with the filling yarns. The edge portions of the warp set contain synthetic, texturized yarns woven with the filling yarns. The second set of warp yarns, which is to form the outer layer, comprises all texturized yarns, preferably l00s/2 ply texturized nylon yarns. These yarns are tied intermittently to the monofilament filling yarns at about every fourth filling yarn in a staggered pattern across the width of the second set of warp yarns. The resultant waistband has excellent stiffness in the transverse direction and soft and smooth longitudinal edge portions. The resultant waistband is stable and the individual yarns do not slip or slide with respect to each other. The new waistband has about 5 to 50 percent elongation in the longitudinal direction and a uniform modulus of elasticity. The modulus of elasticity will be from about 1 to 5 pounds per inch of width of the fabric at 15 percent elongation. The waistband has less than 3 percent shrinkage and is washable and dry cleanable and is used by itself as the waistband in an article of wearing apparel.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The invention will be more fully described when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the inner tubular layer of a narrow elastic waistband of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an enlarged plan view of a portion of the outer tubular layer of a narrow elastic waistband of the present invention; I

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the narrow elastic waistband of the present invention showing both inner and outer tubular layers;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged plan view of a specific embodiment of the inner tubular layer of the waistband of the present invention; and

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the waistband of the present invention as it would appear in one type of sewing in the waist portion of a pair of trousers.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS With respect to the drawings there is shown in FIG. 1 and'enlarged plan view of a portion of the inner tubular layer 10 of new narrow elastic waistband of the present invention. It should be noted that the view shows only a portion of the inner layer both across the width of the layer and along its length. Furthermore the view only shows certain specific yarns used in the layer. Other yarns may be disposed and woven in and among the yarns shown and described in conjunction with FIG. 1 to provide body, cover, or other properties in the layer.

The layer 10 contains monofilament filling yarns 11 in the transverse direction. Woven with these monofilament filling yarns are two types of warp yarns. One of the warp yarns is an elastomeric yarn 12 an the other yarn is a non-elastic yarn 13. Each elastic warp yarn is leno woven with a non-elastic yarn so that all of the elastic yarns are disposed on one side of the monofilament filling yarns and the non-elastic yarns are disposed on the opposite side of the filling yarns. This will be more clearly shown in the cross-sectional view shown in FIG. 2. All of the elastic yarns 12 are disposed on the concave inner surface of the monofilaments l1 and the non-elastic yarns 13 are disposed on the convex outer surface of the monofilaments 11. Weaving the elastic and non-elastic yarns in this manner unexpectedly produces a concave configuration in the monofilament filling yarn as shown in FIG. 2. This transverse concave configuration has great advantage in the waistband of trousers. By sewing the outer or garment fabric to the convex surface so that the concave surface is disposed toward the body of the wearer of the garment rollover" of the upper edge of the waistband is prevented.

Referring to FIG. 3 there is shown the outer tubular layer 15 of our new waistband according to the present invention. This layer comprises synthetic texturized yarns 16 which are intermittently tied or woven to the monofilament filling yarns II. It is preferred that the texturized yarns be tied to the monofilament yarns in a random pattern to produce a smooth, even surface, though they may be tied in a repetitive pattern to produce a pleasing design on the surface of the layer. As is more clearly shown inFIG. 4, the outer layer 17 is positioned on the concave surface of the inner tubular layer 18 of the waistband 19.

The filament yarns used in the narrow elastic waistband of the present invention may be any of the synthetic, monofilament yarns. Monofilament yarns are used because they have the desired stiffness and because being a single integral unit when they take the concave curvature they take this configuration in a smooth and even manner along their entire length. A preferred monofilament yarn is a nylon monofilament yarn having a denier of about 400 to 2,000. Other monofilament yarns such as polyester filaments or the polyolefin filaments may also be used.

The elastic yarns in the warp direction in the inner layer may be any of the standard elastic yarns used in producing stretch fabric; such as, spandex core yarns, rubber yarns, or the like. The non-elastic yarns which are disposed in the warp direction in the inner layer and which are leno woven with the elastic yarns may be any of the standard non-elastic yarns such as spun yarns or multifilament yarns. By using the leno woven yarns in the inner layer as described above a transverse concave configuration is placed in this layer. As in the weaving of standard narrow elastic fabrics the elastic yarns are woven under tension and when the final fabric is produced and allowed to relax, it is'automatically shaped and maintains the above described transverse concave configuration. This has a great advantage in that no further processing is required in order to place the desired transverse configuration in the fabric which reduces the manufacturing costs of the fabric.

As previously mentioned other yarns may be woven between the leno woven elastic yarns. These other yarns may be woven in a plain weave or other weave as desired. Virtually any yarns can be used and generally they are used to provide cover, body or other desired properties in the final fabric. The yarns that are used to fill in the leno woven elastic yarns should be of such'a nature that they do not overpower the transverse filament yarns which are used to provide the desired resiliency and stiffness in the final fabric. Example of yarns which might be used between the leno woven elastic yarns would be the texturized stretch yarns, such as texturized nylon, standard cotton or rayon yarns, plain woven elastic yarns and the like.

The yarns in the warp direction in the outer layer are synthetic texturized stretch yarns, such as texturized nylon, texturized-polyester and the like. These warp yarns are also woven under tension and when the fabric is allowed to relax produce excellent cover on the surface of the waistband and do not disrupt the desired concave configuration of the inner tubular layer.

The inner layer of a preferred waistband 20 according to the present invention, in shown in FIG. 5. The layer contains synthetic, monofilament, filling yarns 21. When using monofilament filling yarns, at each end 22 of the filling, where the yarn turns back on itself, a very sharp edge is formed due to the stiffness of the monofilament. This sharp edge is uncomfortable to the wearer and creates abrasion problems and rough edges in the final product.

Woven with the monofilament filling yarns along the edges of the layer; that is, the two edge portions 23 and 24 of the layer, are texturized yarns 25. Because of the very low stretch required in a trouser waistband texturized yarns are used at these edges to cover the rough bent ends of the filling yarns and provide a smooth soft long-wearing edge. Generally, from about 20 to 30 texturized yarns are woven along each edge portion of the layer to provide'a narrow soft band along each edge. More texturized yarns may be woven along one edge than along the other edge depending on the tension in the loom and to compensate fo this tension and produce a straight web as is well known in the narrow weaving industry.

Disposed in the center portion 26 of the layer are a plurality of elastic yarns 27. Some of these elastic yarns are leno woven with non-elastic yarns 28 as described in regard to FIG. 1 so that these elastic yarns are disposed on one face of the layer. Other of the elastic yarns are woven in a standard plain weave. The number and type of elastic yarns used will depend on the degree of elongation and the modulus of elasticity desired in the final product. Whenever an elastic yarn is not leno woven but is woven in a plain weave, it is held down by a plurality of non-elastic binder yarns 29 on each side of that elastic yarn. With the combination of the leno woven elastic yarns and the other elastic yarns being tied in by binder yarns all of the elastic yarns are disposed in a very stable manner in the final fabric and the yarns will not shift nor move when the fabric is in use as the waistband of a trouser. if desired, interspersed between the leno woven elastic yarns are synthetic, texturized yarns 30 such as texturized nylon yarns.

The monofilament yarns used in producing our new trouser waistband fabric have a denier of about 400 to 2,000 and preferably they have a denier of about 800 to 1,600. Any of the synthetic monofilament yarns may be used, however, it is preferred that nylon monofilaments be used because of the washability and dry cleanability characteristics of these yarns.

The texturized yarns in the edge portions of the inner layer or in the outer tubular layer may be nylon or polyester yarns or other synthetic texturized yarns.

The elastic yarns used in the inner layer of the new trouser waistband described above have a core of spandex yarn. The initial wrap on this spandex core is with a settable yarn such as a polyester or nylon yarn. To produce the desired shrinkage characteristics and dry cleanability in the final product it is important that a spandex core and not .a rubber core be used. Also the setting or initial wrapping of a rubber core will tend to cut the rubber and produce free ends which are abrasive and unsightly.

The initially wrapped spandex core may then be wrapped with any desired yarn to produce the desired hand and appearance in the final fabric. Cotton or rayon spun yarns are suitable yarns for the final wrap. it is very important that the yarn used to initially wrap the spandex core be settable and it is set in its wrapped configuration during the finishing of the fabric though a separate heating step could be used to accomplish the set of the yarns. The setting of the initially wrapped yarn prevents undue shrinkage of these yarns in the final fabric and also allows the elastic yarns to withtand washing and dry cleaning operations.

Spandex cores having a denier of from about 800 to 2,240 initially wrapped with a settable yarn having a denier of from about 75 to 200 or more, and finally covered with a cotton spun yarn produce satisfactory elastic yarns for use in producing the trouser waistband of the present invention.

The binder yarns may be any of the spun, multifilament, or monofilament yarns. The criteria for determining the type of binder yarns used are cost, cover and decorative effects desired in the final product. With the exception of the leno woven yarns, the fabric may be woven in any balanced type of weave.

Referring to FIG. 6 there is shown a cross-sectional view of the waistband of the present invention as it would appear when sewn to an outer apparel fabric. The outer fabric 35 is folded over along its upper edge and the waistband 36 is directly sewn 37 to the folded edge 38 to form the waistband of the garment. Other techniques may also be used for securing our improved waistband to the outer fabric; for example, the outer fabric may be folded a plurality of times and the waistband secured to the inside portion of the fold. Also the bottom portion of the waistband may be tacked to the pants portion or'other lining portions of the final trousers.

The stretch or elasticity in the final product and the modulus or power required to stretch the final product will depend upon a number of things. These are: (a) the amount or number of elastic yarns used in the warpwise direction and their distribution, (b) the degree of stretch in these elastic yarns; that is, the tension they are wrapped under, (0) the type of weave used, and (d) the number of filling yarns per inch used in the fabric.

The above detailed description has been given for clearness of understanding only. No unnecessary limitations should be understood therefrom as modifications will be obvious to those skilled in the art.

What is claimed is:

l. A tubular narrow elastic waistband having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, a plurality of monofilament filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the waistband, a plurality of elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband, said elastic warp yarns being woven under tension with non-elastic warp means running in the longitudinal direction of the fab ric, said elastic and non-elastic warp yarns being woven with said monofilament filling yams in a leno weave with the elastic warp yarns on the concave surface and the non-elastic warp yarn on the convex surface of the layer to provide a transverse concaveconfiguration in the layer, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of synthetic texturized warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband and intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband.

2. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the monofilament filling yarns are nylon.

3. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the elastic warp yarns of the inner layer are wrapped spandex core yarns.

4. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the warp yarns in the outer layer are texturized nylon yarns.

5. A tubular narrow elastic waistband having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, transversely extending monofilament filling yarns having a denier of from 400 to 2,000 woven with a set of longitudinally extending warp yarns to provide stiffness in the transverse direction of the layer, said set of warp yarns having a longitudinally extending center portion and two longitudinal edge portions, said center portion containing a plurality of elastic warp yarns having a spandex core wrapped with a yarn that is set in its wrapped configuration, at least some of said elastic yarns being leno woven with non-elastic warp yarns whereby the layer has a transverse concave configuration, and said center portion also having nonelastic warp yarns woven in a plain weave, and said edge portions of said inner layer comprising texturized yarns whereby the layer has smooth and soft longitudinal edges, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending synthetic texturized warp yarns intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband.

6. A fabric according to claim wherein the monofilament filling yarns are nylon yarns.

7. In a pair of trousers made from stretchable material, said trousers having an inwardly extending folded edge portion about the waist thereof, a web attached to said folded edge portion, said web comprising, a tubular narrow elastic fabric having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, a plurality of monofilament filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the waistband, a plurality of elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband, said elastic warp yarns being woven under tension with non-elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, said elastic and non-elastic warp yarns being woven with said monofilament filling yarns in a leno weave with the elastic warp yarns on the concave surface and the non-elastic warp yarns on the convex surface of the layer to provide a transverse concave configuration in the layer, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of synthetic texturized warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband and intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband, the convex surface of said inner layer being positioned adjacent the folded edge portion of said trousers. 

1. A tubular narrow elastic waistband having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, a plurality of monofilament filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the waistband, a plurality of elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband, said elastic warp yarns being woven under tension with non-elastic warp means running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, said elastic and nonelastic warp yarns being woven with said monofilament filling yarns in a leno weave with the elastic warp yarns on the concave surface and the non-Elastic warp yarn on the convex surface of the layer to provide a transverse concave configuration in the layer, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of synthetic texturized warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband and intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband.
 2. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the monofilament filling yarns are nylon.
 3. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the elastic warp yarns of the inner layer are wrapped spandex core yarns.
 4. A waistband according to claim 1 wherein the warp yarns in the outer layer are texturized nylon yarns.
 5. A tubular narrow elastic waistband having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, transversely extending monofilament filling yarns having a denier of from 400 to 2,000 woven with a set of longitudinally extending warp yarns to provide stiffness in the transverse direction of the layer, said set of warp yarns having a longitudinally extending center portion and two longitudinal edge portions, said center portion containing a plurality of elastic warp yarns having a spandex core wrapped with a yarn that is set in its wrapped configuration, at least some of said elastic yarns being leno woven with non-elastic warp yarns whereby the layer has a transverse concave configuration, and said center portion also having non-elastic warp yarns woven in a plain weave, and said edge portions of said inner layer comprising texturized yarns whereby the layer has smooth and soft longitudinal edges, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of longitudinally extending synthetic texturized warp yarns intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband.
 6. A fabric according to claim 5 wherein the monofilament filling yarns are nylon yarns.
 7. In a pair of trousers made from stretchable material, said trousers having an inwardly extending folded edge portion about the waist thereof, a web attached to said folded edge portion, said web comprising, a tubular narrow elastic fabric having an inner layer and an outer layer, said inner layer having a concave surface and a convex surface, said inner layer comprising, a plurality of monofilament filling yarns running in the transverse direction of the waistband, a plurality of elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband, said elastic warp yarns being woven under tension with non-elastic warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the fabric, said elastic and non-elastic warp yarns being woven with said monofilament filling yarns in a leno weave with the elastic warp yarns on the concave surface and the non-elastic warp yarns on the convex surface of the layer to provide a transverse concave configuration in the layer, and an outer layer disposed on the concave surface of the inner layer and comprising a plurality of synthetic texturized warp yarns running in the longitudinal direction of the waistband and intermittently tied to the monofilament filling yarns to produce a smooth surface on the waistband, the convex surface of said inner layer being positioned adjacent the folded edge portion of said trousers. 